4 ms·

This should be a basic requirement for all games. Even before I was married my mom would call or someone would ring the doorbell. And when I was a kid I had t

by samspot 11y ago

This should be a basic requirement for all games. Even before I was married my mom would call or someone would ring the doorbell. And when I was a kid I had to go down to dinner or take out the trash.

derefr 11y ago
Years ago, I wondered why hypervisor-level pause (and memory snapshots, for that matter) weren't just expected features for game consoles. These days I can at least hit the Home button on a Wii U game and expect it to work. Emulators are still hogging save-states all to themselves, though.
CPLX 11y ago
That reminds me of the old "Supervisor Key" in classic early games.
- jansc 11y ago
  Yeah! Like the boss key in Leisure Suit Larry: http://www.mobygames.com/game/leisure-suit-larry-goes-looking-for-love-in-several-wrong-places/screenshots/gameShotId,57500/ http://www.mobygames.com/game/leisure-suit-larry-goes-lookin... Now THAT is a job ad ;-)
- mentat 11y ago
  "Oh yeah, I was just working on this spreadsheet." Those were the days...
fixermark 11y ago
"Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus [http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Mac-Game-Programming-Gurus/dp/1568301839]" http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Mac-Game-Programming-Gurus/dp/1... actually dedicated about a paragraph or two to the topic, driving home the point that a game that cannot be paused is leaving N% of potential players on the table right out of the starting gate (and I believe they even had a hypothetical about "little Jimmy" not being able to pause to take out the trash and therefore his parents uninstall the game). These days of MMOs and other coordinated time-sinks make me miss the simplicity of pausable single-player and turn-based multiplayer sometimes.
- freehunter 11y ago
  That is probably 90% of the reason I stopped playing multiplayer games. Which sucks because the number of single player games I want to play is, I feel, getting smaller over the years. There was a day when first person shooters, no matter how good the multiplayer was, had a single player campaign as well. There was a day (even when processors were absolute shit) when you could add bots into the game and they would play like humans with personalities. Hell, even the single player games are getting to be unpausable. How many cut scenes are there in GTAV? And if other duties are at hand, the only option is to skip the story line so you can pause.
- madez 11y ago
  One problem with real-time multiplayer games is also the sensitivity to latency. It can very easily be impossible to play any game that is sensitive to latency together with people from several continents. I'd wish there'd be more games that don't rely on fast connections. CIV 5 is good exception, with it's well though-out multiplayer modes.
baby 11y ago
I'm still having nightmares of someone interrupting me during those long and unpausable metal gear solid cutscenes
- Cthulhu_ 11y ago
  MGS 4 is like 50% cutscenes. You can pause them though - thank fuck, the ending cutscenes are over an hour in length or however long it was.
  - coldpie 11y ago
    Yes, the ending cutscene after you beat the game is one hour and eight minutes long. Source (sorry it's an infographic): http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/17/infographic-metal-gear-solids-cutscenes-by-the-numbers/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/17/infographic-metal-gear-sol...
rquirk 11y ago
It's why I love the Nintendo DS and its successor the 3DS - any game can be paused just by closing the lid! In this low-power mode it can last for many hours, possibly days.
- donatj 11y ago
  Absolutely days, I close mine and reopen it a week or so later. I never actually turn it off.

by samspot 11y ago

derefr 11y ago

Years ago, I wondered why hypervisor-level pause (and memory snapshots, for that matter) weren't just expected features for game consoles. These days I can at least hit the Home button on a Wii U game and expect it to work. Emulators are still hogging save-states all to themselves, though.

CPLX 11y ago

That reminds me of the old "Supervisor Key" in classic early games.

jansc 11y ago
Yeah! Like the boss key in Leisure Suit Larry: http://www.mobygames.com/game/leisure-suit-larry-goes-looking-for-love-in-several-wrong-places/screenshots/gameShotId,57500/ http://www.mobygames.com/game/leisure-suit-larry-goes-lookin... Now THAT is a job ad ;-)
mentat 11y ago
"Oh yeah, I was just working on this spreadsheet." Those were the days...

fixermark 11y ago

"Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus [http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Mac-Game-Programming-Gurus/dp/1568301839]" http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Mac-Game-Programming-Gurus/dp/1... actually dedicated about a paragraph or two to the topic, driving home the point that a game that cannot be paused is leaving N% of potential players on the table right out of the starting gate (and I believe they even had a hypothetical about "little Jimmy" not being able to pause to take out the trash and therefore his parents uninstall the game). These days of MMOs and other coordinated time-sinks make me miss the simplicity of pausable single-player and turn-based multiplayer sometimes.

freehunter 11y ago
That is probably 90% of the reason I stopped playing multiplayer games. Which sucks because the number of single player games I want to play is, I feel, getting smaller over the years. There was a day when first person shooters, no matter how good the multiplayer was, had a single player campaign as well. There was a day (even when processors were absolute shit) when you could add bots into the game and they would play like humans with personalities. Hell, even the single player games are getting to be unpausable. How many cut scenes are there in GTAV? And if other duties are at hand, the only option is to skip the story line so you can pause.
madez 11y ago
One problem with real-time multiplayer games is also the sensitivity to latency. It can very easily be impossible to play any game that is sensitive to latency together with people from several continents. I'd wish there'd be more games that don't rely on fast connections. CIV 5 is good exception, with it's well though-out multiplayer modes.

baby 11y ago

I'm still having nightmares of someone interrupting me during those long and unpausable metal gear solid cutscenes

Cthulhu_ 11y ago
MGS 4 is like 50% cutscenes. You can pause them though - thank fuck, the ending cutscenes are over an hour in length or however long it was.
- coldpie 11y ago
  Yes, the ending cutscene after you beat the game is one hour and eight minutes long. Source (sorry it's an infographic): http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/17/infographic-metal-gear-solids-cutscenes-by-the-numbers/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/17/infographic-metal-gear-sol...

rquirk 11y ago

It's why I love the Nintendo DS and its successor the 3DS - any game can be paused just by closing the lid! In this low-power mode it can last for many hours, possibly days.

donatj 11y ago
Absolutely days, I close mine and reopen it a week or so later. I never actually turn it off.